Yokohama Convention & Visitors Bureau Ends 2012 by Winning Two More Bids for Large-scale International Conferences

Intellects Around the World Gather in Yokohama's City of Life Innovation Special Zone and Environmental FutureCity

YOKOHAMA, Japan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Yokohama Convention & Visitors Bureau (YCVB) announced that the organization has won the bids for two large-scale international conferences. In October, YCVB won the bid for the 17th International Symposium on Olfaction and Taste that will be held in 2016, and in November Yokohama was chosen as the host for the Goldschmidt Conference in 2016, the leading conference of geochemical community.

“Keihin Coastal Area Life Innovation Comprehensive Special Zone for International Competitive Development”

Initiatives taken by the city are to thank for Yokohama's success in hosting various conferences. The city is developing a social economic infrastructure so corporations and academia can collaborate in producing innovations; it is the primary focus in supporting scientific fields such as life science. When attracting international conferences, YCVB works closely with local organizers in preparing the event and in welcoming attendees. The 10th Annual Meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) held at PACIFICO Yokohama in June showed Yokohama's strong presence as an international MICE city. The local committee of this conference was led by Dr. Shinya Yamanaka, Nobel Prize winner in physiology or medicine and Director of the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application at Kyoto University.

The efforts in developing an innovative and sustainable social economy were recognized in December 2011 as two national projects of Japan, "Environmental FutureCity" and "Keihin Coastal Area Life Innovation Comprehensive Special Zone for International Competitive Development". International conferences held in Yokohama play the key roles in these projects by driving innovation through intellectual exchange and in developing the city in a global era.

In 2013, Yokohama will host various large-scale international conferences including the 28th International Congress of Chemotherapy and Infection, the 12th International Wheat Genetics Symposium, the HUPO 12th Annual World Congress 2013, the IDF World Dairy Summit 2013, the 18th Congress of the Asian Pacific Society of Respirology and the 5th Tokyo International Conference on African Development that will be co-hosted by the Government of Japan, UN, UNDP and the World Bank.

For further details of YCVB visit: http://www.welcome.city.yokohama.jp/eng/convention/